Beginner Lifter Emilee DeCastillo Clean and Jerks 63 kilo during her Training Session on Monday night Sept 25th, 2017. Emilee is new to the Sport of Weightlifting but she is picking the finer points up quickly. We are excited to see her progress. Keep it up Emilee!

Master’s American Open Champion Jenny Clouse Jerking 80 kilos during her Saturday Training Session. She is training hard for the Master’s Senior National Championships. Jenny competes in the 58 kilo class.

Highland High School Sophomore Isaac Young Jerked 90 kilos during his Friday afternoon training session at Performance One Advanced Sports Training. Isaac is a Youth lifter in his first year of training in the sport of Weightlifting. He is training hard to make to the Youth Nationals in 2016. Keep up the hard work Isaac.

There are exercise that have been shown to have a better transfer over to the Competitive Lifts. For the Jerk, the Press from the Split position has been shown help the athlete develop the necessary muscles and position strength that you will use in the Jerk. Here Morgan Huppenthal is performing the movement. Notice that the lower body does not move while she is Pressing the bar overhead. She does not want to move her upper body at all while doing this exercise. No forward or backward swaying of the Torso. Morgan does an excellent job of maintaining position. This exercise will use less weight than your traditional Standing Press. Once the position is Master slowly add weights. Some Coaches use this exercise as a warm up for the Jerk we at Performance One use it at the end of the Training Session as a Pure Strength Exercise

Performance One Female Weightlifters were cranking it today in training. Master’s Lifter Jenny Clouse was on fire today Hitting Personal Records in the Jerk Recovery with 100 kilos, Jerk with 75 kilos and Clean for a triple with 70 & 75 kilos. Up and coming lifter Audree Lawrence also wanted to show off her skills by hitting Doubles with 75 kilos in the Jerk. She also hit a Personal Record in the Clean with a Double at 80 & 83 kilos. Emily Lilo also showed that she was in on the action hitting Heavy Clean & Jerks with 90 kilos for multiple sets then performing heavy Clean Pulls with 120 & 125 kilos for a double. Keep it up Ladies!

Depends on what you mean by a beginner. We have beginners that are youth lifters (17 & under) with no formal lifting experience. We have beginners that are high school and college athletes that have experience in Strength Training, but lack the specific flexibility or coordination necessary for Weightlifting. We have older athletes in their 30-40s that have been working out and lifting for many years but are new to Weightlifting and have several flexibility and preexisting injuries to work around.

For youth lifters we want them to show technical skill and proficiency before we push them to a Maximal Lift this may not be for 3-6 months of training. One to master the technical movements, second to develop the necessary position strength to safely execute the lifts through position.

For the high school and college athlete we again make sure that technical proficiency is learned. We may have a little more leeway with them because their strength levels should be higher than that of a Youth lifter. We will test them sooner in Position Specific Movements (For example: Snatch from Above the Knee, Jerk from behind the Neck, and Clean). If they are technically consistent and safe in segments but not the whole part of the lifts that is ok. This can happen after a short time 4-6 weeks of training. The whole time we are working them into a full lift progression and not just partial movements.

Lastly with the older athlete we need to stress flexibility and safety first. Their window of athletic opportunity and ability is smaller. The aspiration of ideal technique with this demographic must not be pushed too far. They will be chasing something they might never achieve and this will stunt their progression. We refer to this theory as “Is Good as It Gets”. That being sad I usually wait 4-8 weeks to test this group of individuals again it will be based on what limitations I feel they are having the most challenges with.

With all groups there are exceptions to the rule. This guidelines are what we follow with the majority. One method for everyone does not work. There are too many variables to consider. Unless you are always working with one particular group then you can form one methodology. Here at Performance One Advanced Sports Training we see a large and diverse demographic of athletes.

Cody’s teammate and friend Jake Mapes continued to impress with his consistent lifting in the Snatch. Jake performed five sets of two reps with 90 kilos to perfection. Following that up with three doubles in the Clean & Jerk with 130 kilos. Toping the day off with a PR Front Squat of 180 kilos. That is a 10 kilo PR. Jake like Cody are training for the Junior National Championships in January.

The third member of this dynamite younger group is Kaija Bramwell. Kaija was the 2013 Youth World Team Member. She has recently come to us to build on her Technical Skills and to take her Weightlifting to the next level. She has shown great progress in the technical understanding of the movements. She will be dominant force in the Youth and Junior levels of the 53 kilo weight class.